Entrepreneurial Resourcefulness: Theoretical Origins, Integrative Review, and Research Agenda

Abstract

Entrepreneurial resourcefulness is frequently invoked as an essential quality needed to succeed in the entrepreneurship processes. As such, recent years have seen a proliferation of a diverse body of scholarship on entrepreneurial resourcefulness. While this diversity demonstrates the promise and depth of entrepreneurial resourcefulness, this research is fragmented across disciplines, theories, and levels of analysis, which limits our understanding of when, why, and how entrepreneurial resourcefulness occurs and its effect on the entrepreneurial process. This study reviews and integrates the literature on entrepreneurial resourcefulness, providing a common foundational grounding that coheres diverse yet related streams of research. As an outcome of the review, we offer a definition of entrepreneurial resourcefulness that is anchored in its diverse theoretical origins and synthesize relevant research. In building on the foundation offered by the review, we identify the most critical areas for future research with the potential to build upon and extend the theoretical insights derived from the review.